Early map showing the River Foyle flowing around the island of Derry and creating the Bog to the west of the walled city.

The influx of migrants throughout the 18th century, which increased during and after the great famine of the 1840s, created a Catholic majority in Derry. Since Catholics were forbidden from living within the walls most settled in the Bogside.

By the end of the 19th century, Catholics had a clear voting majority in Derry but no corresponding political power.

Tensions rose across Ireland during the 1919-21 War of Independence. In the spring and summer of 1920, 40 people were killed in the city in clashes between republicans and an alliance of loyalists and British forces.

When the Government of Ireland Act was passed in 1920, and partition became a reality in 1921, nationalist Derry felt abandoned, a very reluctant part of the north.

The area now known as the Bogside was originally underwater. The Foyle flowed round the island of Derry, and was first settled as the river diverted. It dried out into marshland: hence the name Bogside.

The influx of migrants throughout the 18th century created a significant Catholic population in Derry. Because Catholics were forbidden from living within the walls most settled in the Bogside. The steady growth of the Catholic population was reflected in the construction of the city’s first Catholic church, Long Tower (1784), and St Eugene’s Cathedral (1851).

By the beginning of the 20th century Catholic Derry was dominated by parliamentary Irish nationalism. Nationalist leaders and the Catholic clergy resisted any republican presence, even opposing the Gaelic Athletic Association as a ‘republican influence’.

About the Museum of Free Derry

The Museum of Free Derry tells the story of how a largely working class community rose up against the years of oppression it had endured. The museum and archive has become an integral part of Ireland’s radical and civil rights heritage.

The museum also tells the story of Bloody Sunday, the day when the British Army committed mass murder on the streets of the Bogside. It tells the story of how the people of Derry, led by the families of the victims, overcame the injustice and wrote a new chapter in the history of civil rights, which has become a source of international inspiration.

The museum is a public space where the concept of Free Derry can be explored in both historic and contemporary contexts. Free Derry is about our future together as much as it is about the past. The struggle of Free Derry is part of a wider struggle in Ireland and internationally for freedom and equality for all.